CPM keeps brave face as upset Buddha meets mentor

Rattled by the unprecedented poll debacle,the CPM Politburo that met here today saw some finger-pointing....

Rattled by the unprecedented poll debacle,the CPM Politburo that met here today saw some finger-pointing,with the West Bengal brigade questioning the line adopted by the central leadership vis-à-vis the Third Front and Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan slamming his rival Pinarayi Vijayan.

In the end,the oft-repeated line of collective responsibility prevailed. So no heads will roll and no resignation offers accepted. Instead,the state units of Kerala and Bengal will hold meetings soon to review the results and their reports will be discussed by the Central Committee,a meeting of which will be held next month.

The Politburo is expected to issue a statement tomorrow.

For the record,the central leaders strongly denied that West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee,who stayed away from the meeting,had offered to quit calling such reports rubbish and manufactured by the media.

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In Kolkata,Bhattacharjee met veteran leader Jyoti Basu who had stepped down to make way for him as CM at his Salt Lake residence this evening.

They met for nearly 30 minutes. Neither Basu nor the CM talked to the media about the meeting.

Party insiders in Kolkata said the CMs decision to skip the Politburo was clearly a signal of his deep anguish and concern over the fact that the rout is going to overshadow his governments term until 2011. The official reason that the states law and order situation was the reason for his absence in Delhi has little basis in fact. There has been no major incident of violence since May 16. Even Chief Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborti confirmed that the CM did not hold any review meeting of the law and order situation although he visited his office twice in the day. Asked about reports that he offered to resign,Bhattacharjee didnt comment.

After his meeting with Basu,the Chief Minister went to the city arts centre,Nandan,and spent the evening there.

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At the Politburo,the Bengal brigade,represented by state secretary Biman Bose and Nirupam Sen,argued that more than local issues like Nandigram and Singur,the outcome was a reflection of the national mood. The rejection of the Third Front as a non-serious player had an impact in West Bengal also,they pointed out.

Why did all the seven seats in Delhi go to the Congress? Why out of 10 seats in Haryana,nine went to Congress? Why did it happen Andhra Pradesh where one of the exponents of the Third Front (Chandrababu) Naidu is there? If you get all these answers,you will get the reason (behind our defeat), Bose told reporters.

West Bengal Industries Minister Nirupam Sen told reporters that there will no re-look at the industrial policy. One thing the leaders admitted was that there was substantial erosion in the partys Muslim votes.

As far as Kerala is concerned,Achuthanandan targeted the official leadership by saying that the SNC Lavalin issue,electoral adjustments with PDP led by Abdul Nassar Madhani and the high-handed manner in which allies were treated played a major role in the drubbing. (with ENS,Kolkata)